{"id":91693,"date":"2016-05-11T17:55:18","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T15:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=91693"},"modified":"2016-05-11T17:56:40","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T15:56:40","slug":"competitive-gaming-battle-in-south-africa-mssa-vs-pro-gamers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/91693-competitive-gaming-battle-in-south-africa-mssa-vs-pro-gamers","title":{"rendered":"Competitive gaming battle in South Africa: MSSA vs pro gamers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The feedback on MyGaming\u2019s recent interview with Mind Sports South Africa\u2019s national eSports teams manager Ryan Boyes<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0once again highlighted the split in South Africa\u2019s competitive gaming scene.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0the one corner,\u00a0you have those who are affiliated with the MSSA, and in the other, you have those who play in private leagues.<\/p>\n

Nathaneal Slabbert, chief executive officer of nAvTV eSports Broadcasting, explained that the rivalry between the groups comes from a disagreement with the MSSA\u2019s rules and guidelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis restricts players and or teams to a certain degree,\u201d Slabbert said. \u201ceSports is such a new and developing sport all over the world, that to apply conventional ways of thinking and rules to it does not help the growth of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Round 1: Prize-money doesn\u2019t improve standards, nor help to grow eSports<\/h3>\n

Boyes told MyGaming that competitive gaming in South Africa finds itself at a crossroads, thanks to increased prize-money from companies for gaming events.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the prize-money offered may tempt many gamers, the prize-money does not improve standards, nor does it help to grow eSports as a sport,\u201d said Boyes.<\/p>\n

Slabbert completely disagreed with Boyes\u2019 assertion.<\/p>\n

\u201cFunding in any shape or form for eSports is a massive step forward,\u201d said Slabbert.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eSports Industry is pretty much dominated by the private sector, plenty of private companies and organisations pump plenty of funding into it for the purpose of marketing and advertising their brands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slabbert said that this happens on the international level as well, and that this is also something that is very common in conventional sports like soccer, rugby, and cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvents like the Telkom Masters build a road for teams and players to start gearing up to make eSports a full time commitment, and that is what our country needs,\u201d said Slabbert.<\/p>\n

Round 2: Professional teams fall woefully short of international standards<\/h3>\n

Boyes also said that South Africa\u2019s professional teams fall woefully short of international standards compared to our national teams, which are ranked 12th in the world by the IeSF.<\/p>\n

Slabbert also disagreed with this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best teams in the world are not teams representing their countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take a team like Fnatic currently, and put them up against the number 1 ranked country team, I can guarantee that Fnatic will beat them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slabbert said that while being ranked 12th in the world is great for the MSSA, the teams they have sent overseas\u00a0were\u00a0not South Africa\u2019s best and we should be ranked even higher.<\/p>\n

Improving eSports in South Africa<\/h3>\n

Slabbert said that to improve eSports in South Africa, further investment is the first thing that is needed.<\/p>\n

The greater the funding, the better the results from teams will be, events will be bigger and better-looking, and attendance and interest will grow.<\/p>\n

More money also allows for teams to focus, attend more overseas events, and gain\u00a0the exposure South Africa needs.<\/p>\n

Bringing international events to South Africa is also another avenue to expose our teams to them, Slabbert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoney means commitment, more work, it is that extra thing that makes you practice more because you want to be rewarded,\u201d said Slabbert. \u201cIt is human nature to work towards a reward.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on eSports in South Africa<\/h3>\n

South African eSports industry set to take off: Bravado Gaming<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The future of competitive gaming in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Competitive gaming in South Africa at a crossroads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an intense rivalry between eSports teams affiliated with the MSSA, and those who play in private leagues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":89695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[289,18647,18651,18649,10699,17807],"class_list":["post-91693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-competitive-gaming","tag-mind-sports-south-africa-mssa","tag-nathaneal-slabbert","tag-navtv","tag-professional-gamers","tag-ryan-boyes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}